Osama is probably dead, dying, or out of the loop, and Osama is not the problem. He's ancient history by today's standards.
The problem is Islam. Bush is obviously trying to cultivate the supposedly "moderate" Muslims by things like the latest deal with Dubai (where they are buying a UK company that makes US military equipment) to prove that the problem is not Islam and we can trust them. Nothing in the 1400 years since the birth of that insane death cult - actually a variant of the Arian heresy with a particularly violent monomaniac as a leader - has ever given anyone any reason to trust them, and I think he's making a serious mistake by even pretending to do so. For one thing, "moderate" Muslims have historically always been stomped and taken over by the more radical groups, who are actually the orthodox ones and are perfectly right in regarding the moderates as heretical by Muslim standards.
If the problem were only one person, Noonan's article might make sense. But that's not the problem.
Osama has put out at least one tape this year that the CIA has authenticated. You seem to imply that he doesn't deserve to be captured and executed. The message that sends to our enemies is one of weakness. You can kill Americans - the victims of Flight 93, for instance - and the American gov't (and citizens like livius) will let you get away with it. As Noonan says, that a "scandal."
Got that right - OBL is now just a weak cog, hiding his sorry a*s in a deep cave somewhere - some leader.
He was never the head of the snake -